today on our t.v. what exactly does democracy look like well it could be a group of occupy protesters glutting enough money to buy consumer debt from big banks and then forgiving those americans beholden to it ahead we'll tell you about the latest off your high jubilee it's rolling into town plus he was once america's military sweetheart but now he's not so secret extramarital affair has cost general petraeus his job but is the mainstream media still in love with him. and the u.s. pauses for a day to remember the extraordinary sacrifices american troops made on the battlefield but well life resumes and wars rage on takes

a closer look at battlefield america and the homelessness suicides and mental illness these men and women fight when they return from war. it's monday november eleventh four pm in washington d.c. i'm christine for is now and you're watching our t.v. . our top story today is one that just maybe renewed your faith that solutions to big problems don't have to be political or based on greed that some actions being taken right now are rooted in basic logic and even more so in kindness i'm talking about the rolling jubilee a new program launched by members of occupy wall street who have been raising money to purchase distressed consumer debt from financial firms at an extremely reduced price once they own someones debt they forgive it here's how it works normally when

people need money to pay for education housing or medical attention they go to a bank to take out a loan they have to pay back this debt over time and investors purchased the debt to make money on the interest the borrow borrower pays each month but when a borrower is unable to make that monthly payment the value of the debt goes down investors will sell it off to debt collectors for pennies on the dollar debt collectors make a living by hounding borrowers for the money and make a profit by getting people to pay back every dollar well that's where rolling jubilee comes in the strike debt movement wants to purchase this debt for pennies on the dollar however instead of trying to squeeze the money out of the borrowers they would buy the debt to forgive it essentially making that debt disappear joining me now from our studios in new york to break this down for us our correspondent don see it's working out on a sausage from what i understand this program kicks off in just a couple of days give us the details well christine you know this program is really

amazing in its simplicity and while i have to say haters must have been hoping that occupy wall street has fallen off the face of the earth or at least the face of the national arena this is not been the case at all for months now this strike that project has been in the works occupy wall street has been trying to come up with a system where they can do what they can their share of the action to try to help so many americans who are just completely burdened by debts and the idea like you say is very simple and experts are saying the. this is possibly one of the best ideas occupy wall street has ever had and what it entails as you have just described as a buying distressed debt for pennies on the dollar and basically instead of harassing. the people in that. debt buyers and debt collectors occupy wall street just goes and abolishes this debt and wipes it out completely and we caught up with the former wall street employee and now occupy wall street activists alexis goldstein and she broke it down for us take a listen normally like if you default on the loan there's all these collections

agencies that can buy your debt and then they harass you harass you harass you and it's like three percent of the people they get the money from. they do ok because they buy the debt for pennies on the dollar so what we're doing is we're trying to buy a million dollars worth of debt which only costs fifty thousand dollars because it's pennies on the dollar and abolish it and so people will get a phone call saying you know instead of getting a phone call from a collections agency they'll get one phone call saying hey occupy wall street bought your debt it's been abolished and if you feel like helping you know give us five bucks to help somebody else. certainly a phone call that would make a lot of people very happy chrissie as you understand the idea behind strike that they say that fifty thousand dollars could abolish a million dollars in debt but it's small donations that they're really counting on twenty five bucks can abolish five hundred dollars one hundred dollars can abolish two thousand so already on the website if you go to rolling jubilee they have counted on of the money they've been able to gather going on already they've made

over ninety one thousand dollars last time i checked which should be enough to abolish over one point eight million dollars in debt and this is only the beginning the biggest event is taking place on thursday where there will be a fundraiser a variety show and a telethon that will be streamed online where certainly they're planning to raising the biggest amount of money they can and as far as we know those tickets are already sold out on a south here talk about the name the rolling jubilee what it with fineness name i think it said has something to do with the you know movable feast a celebration that keeps on going really that keeps going after the fundraiser takes place and the idea there is what occupiers have told us is that once they make that phone call to the lucky person who is burdened by debt and doesn't know how to get out of it a call from occupy wall street saying look you don't have to deal with this anymore we've abolished your debt they're counting that people might want to donate a couple of dollars five bucks ten bucks twenty dollars and that is something that will they're hoping have

a snowball effect so the celebration is jubilee of you know finally being getting rid of getting rid of of a burden is something that's going to keep spreading once more and more people how their debts of all is together at rolling idea of paying it forward certainly could be a really great concept that makes everyone involved feel good about themselves we took a look at the rolling jubilee website and i know there are some pretty staggering statistics on there more than seventy seven percent of american households are in debt more than half of bankruptcies sixty two percent are caused by medical illness and to wish and debt has reached more than one. one trillion dollars on a sunday i know over the last few years you've been doing a lot of stories about this really giving a face to some of these issues what's it going to take though for a systematic overall well law christine of course those numbers are completely staggering we have you know one in seven americans being a whore rast by debt collectors so this is something that are not just crazy numbers out there again but really people who are dealing with this kind of thing

on a daily basis and it's interesting that you know while all of these people are crippled by this debt system that exists in the united states these days some experts are saying this idea that occupy wall street has is amazing in terms of that is going to really help some people get rid of that insane burden that they're carrying on their shoulders but others are saying look it's really not that much considering these staggering numbers i mean if you have over one trillion dollars in student debt this is certainly something that is only beginning to now have some kind of progress an occupy wall street is hoping that they're going to you know launch this process of people being able to get rid of their debts but in terms of a really systematic overhaul this is really just step one and it's important that we've seen the government in the united states bail out corporations with this particular idea occupy wall street is hoping that this is a bailout of the people by the people and they're hoping that this will start some

sort of movement to really where people try to help themselves from the bottom up and just throughout the country of course for the occupy movement this has been a really significant time i know we reported last week the enormous aid occupy has given to victims of superstorm sandy last week even a headline in the new york times said where fema fell short occupy sandy was there so really just a huge impact organizationally and raising money and collecting supplies to give to those in need and now you know being. well to help people with debt i think a lot of people have thought of occupy as you know a bunch of slogans about inequality this is real action being taken and what do you think it is this change the perception of the occupy movement hopefully it will christine i mean like you mentioned the enormous efforts and impact the occupy wall street has had on post hurricane sandy relief which is actually still ongoing we were just on friday at one of the locations where occupy wall street is gathering

donations and clothes and food and diapers and you name it literally dozens of people working around the clock hundreds of people coming by to drop off donations to occupy wall street so certainly you know the face of this movement like we've been reporting has changed to the extent that these are not just occupations throughout the country these are not encampments throughout the country this is certainly something that's made it harder for occupy to get its message across but what certainly exists today are these groups that gather together when a specific necessity arises arises and i'm sure to many this is in some ways a lot more efficient than just camping out and you know protesting against the one percent versus the ninety nine percent these people are doing specific things to do what they can to help and just to go back to a clip of alexis goldstein whom we've spoken with about this to take a listen to her perspective on how this kind of has contributed to the face of occupy changing. police have made it at least for this seeable future impossible

we've kind of adapted in this way where we're organizing more specific seems like it definitely rolling jubilee is just a step one this major step after hurricane sandy relief so we're going to have to wait and see how exactly much of an impact this is going to have on the debt relief but certainly we should expect more from occupy wall street at least that's what the activists are telling us here on the ground yeah big surprise for all those who thought that occupy was all but over turns out they've been working on specific issues like this the whole time r t a correspondent on a stasi a church going to thank so much. well over the last few days there's been quite a bit of a fallout over the resignation of cia director general david petraeus over an extramarital affair but according to a select few the affair with a woman who was not his wife is not the main issue here the bigger problem they argue is the affair the general has had with the media as a result a whole lot of questions that should have been asked about betrays his job and

about the attack in benghazi libya that killed ambassador chris stevens were not asked here's something we wondered back on september eighteenth but here's an interesting detail in a puzzling detail if you take a look at the u.s. state department's web site which we did provides a list of all u.s. embassies consulates and diplomatic missions strangely not listed the diplomatic mission and benghazi but a quick search on the site will turn up numerous other diplomatic missions in the u.s. the ones that were taking part in now with the news of the alleged affair with general petraeus biographer paula broadwell we want to take a critical look at a few additional aspects of this case including the security aspect questions are beginning to trickle out now about the unprecedented access broadwell may have had especially in light of some of the remarks she made back on october twenty sixth at the university of denver. the facts that came out today were that the ground forces

there at the cia annex which is different from the consulate were requesting reinforcements they were requesting it's called the things in extremist extremist force group of delta force operators are very most talented guys we have in the military they could have or they could have come and reinforce the consulate in the cia annex that were under attack now i don't know of a lot of you heard this but the cia annex had actually had taken a couple of libyan militia members prisoner and they think that the attack on the consulate was an effort to try to get these prisoners back so that it's still being vetted well i want to talk about this specifically that last statement she just said that was news to a whole lot of people did not come out from the white house or the state department but from petraeus biographer so let's talk now to colonel morris davis a retired united states air force officer and attorney as well as a former prosecutor at guantanamo bay colonel davis thanks for joining us let's begin with this very interesting information shared about the libya attack i mean

the cia has denied holding prisoners at the annex regardless colonel davis this information was shocking right now i think probably the most disturbing part of this has not been the if there were no personal details what's been the revelation about. potentially on this broad roles. and access to information about her relationship with troops i think those are legitimate questions that need to be explored yeah absolutely you know when you give someone without the same security clearance as that kind of information. i think the whole country has a right to ask questions and be worried but i want to talk to sort of a bigger picture here colonel davis about perception there's a sense by a small group of people again that the extramarital affair is not the issue it is the affair that general petraeus had with the media i want to play a couple of examples here. some pundits have suggested that

perhaps just like general old white eisenhower in the early fifty's think you might have some fine take off your uniform and run for president so that's not the craziest assertion possible he would serve he's the best known military man in the united states he would certainly help mitt romney's credibility the most controversial thing is i would say that the real controversy here is is he awesome or incredibly awesome. well this is very painful but the letter of resignation from the director of central intelligence has been submitted. so quite a few members of the media here devastated to learn the news but before that general petraeus mentioned it dozens of times first as a possible presidential candidate then as a possible running mate to rent not mitt romney. talk a little bit about about this aspect it added an article back in two thousand and four were called it affected engagement with the media because the military

typically has been pretty well but it in dealing with the media but there is that balance between. engaging with the media and becoming you know too close with the media and it certainly appears that general mccoy. betrayed us may or may have crossed that line it and it's disappointing i think it was a retired military officer i think most of us to dating veterans i think a lot of those look at other military officers and when they do well we feel like you know one of us as well when they do poorly we feel like one of us fell down so even though he was the director of the cia time and retired from the military i mean i think a lot of folks so he'll always be known as general petraeus and it's a disappointment to see this kind of. yeah i mean glenn greenwald i know argues that the swooning by the media over the general for the last several years illustrates a larger problem and that is military worship i know in his article greenwald refers to michael hastings work and writes betray us has left

a string of failures and even scandals behind him a disastrous iraq a training program a worsening of the war in afghanistan the attempt to convert the cia into a paramilitary force a series of misleading statements about the benghazi attack and the constant killing of innocent people in the muslim world without a whiff of due process transparency or oversight so colonel davis i mean i guess i want to get your take i know you're an attorney and you have a long military history you're not a media expert but you know the media likes to refer to itself as the fourth estate as another check and balance to the system of fairness and making sure things that happen in this country are right and just talk a little bit about that military worship and the history of it. well we always had a relationship going back to you know the civil war and the listees grant and general eisenhower and work too and we've always had this fascination with military leaders we've kind of put them up on a on

a pedestal mat i guess you know it's regrettable we've been at war for over a decade now when you think about the words the two names that come to mind are mcchrystal and the traitors who will forever have an asterisk next to their names because of what happened at the end of their career so again i think the public i mean you know the military is fighting for the public and the public has a right to information to know what their militaries doing but there's got to be that separation certainly military leaders need to make sure they're maintaining good relations with the military but appropriate relations and i think the media has a duty to make sure that they remain objective and not get caught up in the hype but tell me how this works because i know one of the kind of the new leads today that a lot of people are talking about is because of his retirement general petraeus may not have to testify before congress about what happened this year september eleventh in libya talk a little bit about you know that kind of that angle of this story. right now well sir talk today about whether you can face court martial if you take this back to

his period on active duty when his relationship and with this broadwell again apparently an appropriate or didn't begin until after according what about what i've read and heard. i think it's unlikely that they would take him back on active duty to pursue that but it really concerns me the message that it sends you know the fear forces in the midst of a sexual scandal at lackland air force base the former deputy commander of the eighty second airborne was in court last week basing sexual misconduct charges and again in general mcchrystal you know the most famous general of modern time to be caught up in this kind of scandal even though the circumstances are markedly different i think it still sends a message to the troops that you know it's not a good message on testifying before congress i'm not sure if his resignation is effective immediately you may assume is no longer a government boy still congress can issue a subpoena to require him to show up and justify i think the administration is an

interesting position you know general petraeus was a national hero and were the scandal to erupt certainly not. favorable for the administration how they choose to treat miss broadwell would be interesting to see if you made it in the ninety year history of the espionage act up until president obama taking office there were people indicted in one less years and as of last week there have been seven indicted by the obama administration james his whole berger was just indicted for improperly possessing classified information which is what alleged is alleged that ms broadwell had on her computer. so ministry should probably choose to do. yes certainly a lot of unknowns at this point in this very transitional time as we've just sort of wrapped up the election i guess at this point you just got to hope that the correct lessons are learned from this and improved upon retired colonel morris

davis professor at howard university school of law thanks so much all across the country many people are honoring america's veterans observing veterans day today and saying thank you this is also the time the lawmakers are getting ready for what may be the final major fight of this congressional session here in washington the fight over the fiscal cliff part of which involves cutting defense spending in a major way but what does the federal holiday mean when returning soldiers can't find jobs or access benefits to treat mental and physical injuries suffered on the battlefield how can we better fight for the people who risked their lives to fight for us to answer these questions i'm joined now by michael prysner the founder of march forward also an iraq war veteran hey there michael it's veterans day i want to just kind of get your take on your thoughts on everything that's going on here with this battle over the fiscal cliff cutting a veteran spending and also what we now know is an exorbitant you know

extraordinarily high suicide rate by veterans. well first of all i wanted to mention that on veterans day there's very much an attempt to have it really be a political holiday one that just has kind of slogans that everyone can agree with and no one that will be against. a holiday that says that everything we did and everything we did in the u.s. military was good and just an honorable and therefore we should be appreciated and it's a holiday that tries very hard to cover up the fact that the wars that our veterans especially of this generation have been sent to had people on the other side of those wars and so as we get into the discussion about how veterans today are living here in the united states i think we also have to recognize that there are people on the other side of us foreign policy whose lives were made infinitely worse by the actions of the u.s. military and by u.s. foreign policy and i think we need to recognize those people as well but of course here in the united states of the situation for veterans today is one that's

absolutely abysmal i mean one in three adult homeless people you see on the street are veterans of the suicide rate for veterans is literally eighteen a suicide per day let me in around this you really quick because we actually have made a graphic sort of so people can digest these numbers really help the pain a clearer picture of the state of veterans affairs number that we saw you said it was even higher than that but we saw that fourteen veterans make up fourteen percent of the homeless population sixty seven thousand and also an estimated sixteen hundred to one thousand nine hundred veterans receiving. care commit suicide each year about eight hundred ninety six thousand disability compensation or pension claims were pending as of november seventh and finally twenty seven percent of afghanistan and iraq war veterans suffer from p.t.s.d. so michael you were sort of laying this out we just wanted to put it up so it was easy for people to to really get

a grasp of but talk about this i mean when we talk about defense spending why are more resources not devoted to the defenders themselves. well because defense spending isn't really for the rank and file soldiers who are being sent to risk life and limb that defense spending is for the defense industry and so all you have to do is walk around washington d.c. you see the major defense contractors all around the city and actually ads all over the city saying buy this new armored vehicle buy this new drone buy this new fancy tank will most pedestrians in washington d.c. aren't in the market to buy fifty armored vehicles or tanks these are ads for the generals and officers who work in the pentagon who go out to dinner at five star steak houses with the c.e.o.'s from the defense industry they talk about business deals and say hey this this product that cost a billion dollars that sounds sweet i'll take a million of those and it's something that probably really has no purpose in

anyone's life and so the defense spending is really just faucet that of our funds of our tax dollars that is turned on and just poured into this massive bucket that's held by those who are profiting from war and militarism and so we're actually seeing cuts to the things that actually affect veterans you know for example the post nine eleven g.i. bill i mean one of the few benefits that actually veterans coming back from iraq and afghanistan actually have even though many of them can't use that because the graduation rate for iraq and afghanistan vets is about three percent right now because of the psychological and physical trauma associated with war but even that g.i. bill is being cut and so while defense spending is going up as president obama bragged about in his foreign policy debate with mitt romney that defense spending has gone up every year he has been in office there's actually cuts happening to the things that affect veterans the most and so education is one of those but employment is a big problem you're more likely to be unemployed if you're a veteran of the iraq and afghanistan war than if you never joined the military

homelessness is just proportionate foreclosure and eviction is just proportionate mental health problems and substance abuse is just proportionate. and these are things that could be addressed very quickly and very adequately if only the funds were allotted to those things but the reality is those controlling the funds are putting those things towards those who are making billions and billions of dollars off of our suffering and our hardship instead of the veterans who actually need help michael let me get your insight i know you spent time as a soldier in iraq you're actively involved in the veterans' movement do you think that there's any way to prevent p.t.s.d. while soldiers are still deployed and also what do you think can be done once soldiers return. well no i mean there's no way to stop p.t.s.d. once people are deployed i mean people are coming back with severe psychological trauma not because they're going to afghanistan and building roads and schools and passing out candy but because they're part of maintaining a brutal occupation against the civilian population and so the way that we end this

crisis is by ending the war and that's actually something that most soldiers want and most civilians here in the united states wants and so on this holiday when there's all of this ceremony and pomp and circumstance from the generals and from the politicians saying that they appreciate us and support us they're actually sending us over and over again in our loved ones and our brothers and sisters over and over again to a war they admit is lost a war that they admit has no point were that they admit the u.s. will have to withdraw from or retreat from as it is now doing in slow motion but are responsible for the constant loss of life and limb and mind for absolutely no other purpose then they want to protect their careers and so the reality is as much as these elected officials and non elected officials in the pentagon try to say that this is a day to show that how great we are really quite literally throwing our lives away and then refusing to care for us if we're able to come home in one piece right michael prysner the founder of march forward and also mike is an iraq war veteran

thanks for being with us today thank you. well capital account is up next on our team let's check in with lauren lister very briefly to talk about what's on the agenda hey lauren hi christine you know what happens when you get sick you take your medicine you endure the pain but you don't get better you actually get sicker what happens. a bunch of things could happen you could become addicted to that medication you couldn't you could that's that's a good answer but maybe we should ask greece because greece is in this situation despite the medicine we've seen its debt sickness just get worse that the country is entering this sixth year of contraction that's a depression so we're to look at greece look at the broader picture too that's coming up in just a couple minutes and all right well everyone should stay tuned thanks lauren and for us here on the news side that's going to do it but for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r.t. america or you can check out our website r t dot com slash usa and you should of

course be following me on twitter you can find me at christine we're going to see you back here and a half hour. technology innovation all the developments around russia we've got the future of covered. download the official. sofa choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorites. he is not required to watch all its he only need.

to see any time any of the cool. to see a story. you think you understand it and then something else. and realize everything is. welcome to the big picture. more news today violence is once again flared up the film these are the images being from the street that can.